London open: Strong start for FTSE 100

London's leading stocks have got off to a good start, winning back the losses that mostly came at the end of an uncertain day's trading yesterday.Among the big companies posting gains is All Bar One pubs owner Mitchells & Butlers, which appears to have enjoyed an Indian summer. In the nine weeks to 18 September the group saw like for like (LFL) sales improve by 3.6% on last year's levels. That was a sharp improvement on the 1.6% year on year advance in LFL sales seen in the first 42 weeks of the fiscal year, and took the LFL improvement over the 51 week period up to 2.0%; Numis Securities had predicted an improvement to 1.8%.The last major obstacle to the merger of British Airways and Iberia has been cleared after the Spanish airline backed BA's plan to tackle its huge pension deficit.Water supplier United Utilities says it is on track to deliver results in line with expectations, with the recent regulatory price review for the 2010 to 2015 period now water under the bridge.Wind turbine gearbox designer Hansen Transmissions has teamed up with gearbox solutions expert Romax Technology to win business in China and South Korea. The pair will work for certain wind turbine makers in the area, providing design, development and supply of state-of-the-art gearboxes for multi megawatt (MW) turbines.Britain's biggest nightclub operator Luminar has eased investors' fears over the company's future with an announcement that trading in the half year to August 26 has been in line with expectations, if challenging.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,240.00p +1.81%Randgold Resources (RRS) 6,600.00p +1.69%Essar Energy (ESSR) 451.00p +1.55%Schroders NV (SDRC) 1,142.00p +1.42%TUI Travel (TT.) 228.00p +1.42%National Grid (NG.) 554.00p +1.28%Old Mutual (OML) 139.50p +1.23%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,362.00p +1.19%Investec (INVP) 499.20p +1.16%Invensys (ISYS) 284.90p +1.14%FTSE 100 - FallersShire Plc (SHP) 1,472.00p -0.07%Carnival (CCL) 2,491.00p -0.04%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 100.40p 0.00%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 130.50p 0.00%Resolution (RSL) 234.00p 0.00%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 75.87p +0.03%Barclays (BARC) 306.90p +0.07%Land Securities Group (LAND) 627.00p +0.08%Lonmin (LMI) 1,690.00p +0.12%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,652.00p +0.12%FTSE 250 - RisersFenner (FENR) 240.60p +3.26%Carpetright (CPR) 790.00p +2.07%Restaurant Group (RTN) 271.90p +2.06%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 334.00p +2.02%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 453.70p +1.96%DS Smith (SMDS) 148.70p +1.92%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 76.40p +1.87%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 191.60p +1.81%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 300.00p +1.80%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 844.50p +1.75%FTSE 250 - FallersHenderson Group (HGG) 123.70p -4.99%COLT Group S.A. (COLT) 117.90p -2.40%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,553.00p -1.85%Ocado (OCDO) 138.50p -1.07%Devro (DVO) 240.00p -0.99%Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 780.50p -0.95%Mcbride (MCB) 185.20p -0.91%Monks Inv Trust (MNKS) 318.10p -0.87%Helical Bar (HLCL) 290.00p -0.79%Centamin Egypt (CEY) 186.80p -0.69% Mitchells & Butlers United Utilities Bay Capital